Mommy went in for her platelet transfusion yesterday morning. It was her first time to go to the Saint Mary Cancer Center - outpatient infusion unit. And, it was a good visit.
Instead of driving into Philadelphia for the transfusion, we drove just 10 minutes to Saint Mary for her platelets.
The Cancer Center is a new portion of the Saint Mary Medical Center so everything looks beautiful and new. The Infusion room is staffed by two hard-working and attentive nurses. The room can accomodate about 7 patients for transfusions. Each recliner seat can be sectioned off with curtains, although the friendly crowd that gathered yesterday were all happy to keep their areas open.
We arrived at around 10 am and after going through the usual medical history questionnaire, Mommy's nurse went down to pick up the platelets reserved for her and began the transfusion. Since she received two units of platelets, it took a bit of time for her transfusions to be complete.
The last couple of times my mom received platelets she had a reaction to them. The first bag of platelets ran without any reaction. And the second bag seemed to be going along just fine. The second bag of platelets were almost done when I noticed a couple of red spots on her face. The nurse gave her some more benadryl. Just to be on the safe side she had my mom sit and wait a while before leaving. Mommy felt fine and by a little past 3 pm were out the door headed home.
Mommy didn't show any more hives, but throughout the night her temperature hovered around 99.6-99.9 While it's still considered an acceptable temperature (she needs to go to the ER at 100.4), Mommy and Daddy were up all night continuously checking on her temperature and trying to keep her temp down with ice packs and sponge baths. Today her temp continues to stay in 99's. Hopefully it doesn't go up.
Tomorrow she goes in for her regularly scheduled blood test. We'll see if she'll need a "fill up" of blood or platelets again. It's nice to know that the Saint Mary Infusion Center is a good, convenient place for us to go for the needed transfusions.
Today is Day 9 of her Neupogen shots and she's beginning to show the signs of the expected muscle and bone pain. Last time the pain she experienced from the Neupogen was incredibly intense. But, it's a good sign that the bone marrow is back at work and the blood cells are being produced. Pray for the ease of the pain she may experience and that the bone marrow would continue to produce well good blood cells.
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